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- Sequentially place the thin sections in the bins as numbered, with the frosted side facing up and top of thin section pointing into the chamber (i.e., oriented as the bin numbers; opposite to how wholeround sections are placed for engraving).
- If LaserKatjie3 is open, close this application and open MarkingBuilder2. For engraving small thin sections, open the label template: File > Open > MyDocuments > TS Engraver > TS_engraver-small. MBL (or … TS_engraver-big.MBL)
- Edit the labels. Each label is referred to as a "block" and each of the 12 thin section/bin has 2 blocks: upper and lower. The upper block has the site number, hole, (up arrow) and thin section number; the lower block has the core number and type, section number, piece number if any, and the offset of the billet from the parent sample. The 24 blocks are consecutively numbered towards the right, starting from the front-left bin (Fig. 1).
In the upper right part of the window, toggle to the block number that you want to edit (likely starting from 001). The corresponding block will be highlighted in the main window. In the "Character " box, edit the text pertaining to the thin section in the bin. DO NOT MOVE ANY OF THE BLOCKS!!! (Note: Store a backup copy of the template file. Alternatively, a csv file version can also be loaded.) Save a new copy of your file.
If any of the bins are empty, select and delete the corresponding labels in the temple, otherwise a label will be engraved on the acrylic tray! DO NOT OVERWRITE ORIGINAL template file.
Label and alignment verification. To verify that the label corresponds to the actual slide deselect Marking Laser or Marking + Guide Laser and select Guide Laser Continuous, this will show you where the laser will mark. Alternatively you might want to test the text by lasering a bond paper (Test Page).
Test Page: tape in place a letter-size bond paper on top of the tray with thin sections.
In the bottom toolbar, click on the "Test Marking" button. Follow the prompts.
In the Test Marking Window, under the Test Marking Mode, select the Marking + Guide Laser(Fig. 2). When ready, click the Trigger button. This will engrave the Test Page.
- Remove the engraved bond paper test page and review the text. Modify as needed and repeat steps above using a new bond paper (test page). Once everything is correct, make the actual engraving on the thin section slides: select "Marking Laser" and click "Trigger" (Fig. 2).
- When done, collect the thin section slides from the tray.
- In removing the tray, it is important that you first lift the tray clear of the whole round platform (Photo 4) before tilting it sideways (Photo 5), else, you can break the tray and the walls of the engraving chamber.
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Figure 2: Layout of the template and panels for editing label 
and Marking Page
Figure 3: Test Marking window
Photo 4: To remove the TS tray, first lift it clear off the wholeround platform.
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